It’s been a week since the shadow incident. I say "probably" because, honestly, I've lost track of time. Occasionally, I would overhear conversations between Emily, Laura, and other team members wandering the halls, catching snippets of what they said.

I established a sort of routine and stuck to it, leading me to believe a week had passed. In any case, a lot had changed over that time. The first was the move to my new "room"; I was now in a relatively deeper part of the facility.

Moreover, my new "room" came with a bed and several other distractions, like dolls. Just to clarify, I didn’t ask for the dolls; Laura brought them into my room. However, what really entertained me was undoubtedly the television and the video game.

Honestly, I felt immense pride in having gotten a video game for my room. After all, it took Laura and Emily two whole days to understand what I wanted. I don't even need to mention how confused they were when they realized what I wanted, probably wondering how I knew about video games and why I wanted one so badly.

Also, whenever boredom struck, I would simply escape my room and roam around the facility. Thanks to the new power I had acquired, this became possible. That's how I was able to overhear various conversations among the people in the facility. And I don’t need to mention that the first time I disappeared from my room, the whole place was thrown into complete chaos.

However, as I continued to do this frequently and appeared randomly in different places, the scientists and workers at the facility began to accept my presence. It's true that they still found me frightening; some even trembled and stuttered when they saw me. However, most just ignored the fact that I kept escaping since, after all, I always returned to my room.

You might be wondering why I didn’t run away since I could probably escape the facility easily, right? The truth is, the answer is quite simple: where would I go if I left here? I’m not even human anymore, I have no family—at least none that I remember. The main reason, though, is that here they provide me with everything I want and need. Are there really reasons for me to leave? I simply can't find any.

However, strangely enough, today the atmosphere in the facility felt a bit grim. While swimming through the shadows surrounding the place, I overheard a conversation that honestly piqued my interest.

“I heard the director is coming tomorrow”

“Yeah, I heard that too. In fact, I think everyone has noticed just by looking at the head researcher; she doesn’t seem to like him much”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Ah... why are those high-ups like that? Can’t they see that normal people like us get caught in the crossfire and end up being a problem?”

“Who knows?”

That was where the conversation ended. To be honest, it was the first time I had heard of this so-called director. From the way they spoke about him, it was clear he held a prominent position within the organization. I genuinely hoped this guy wouldn’t cause any problems when he got here.

***

(POV - Emily Parker)

In the last week, Emily hadn’t had a single minute to rest. If the recent incident with one of the facility’s anomalies, known as [Shadow], wasn’t enough, she now had to deal with the director.

Whenever this person visited Emily, it felt like they were looking for some problem to complicate her situation even further. Also, she couldn’t say her meetings with the director ended peacefully; most of the time, arguments were inevitable as both had differing opinions on how to handle the issues.

That was probably why Emily, practically recognized as the director by everyone, and the director, who still didn’t have full command since he hadn’t been promoted to general management, were constantly at odds. After all, if one of them reached the position first, they would end up facing each other directly.

“You're making that face again, boss. Is it because of the director’s visit?”

Emily snapped back to reality upon hearing Laura's voice. After a brief sigh, she nodded in Laura’s direction. In fact, Laura didn’t seem scared or anxious about the director’s visit; her concern came from the possibility that something might go wrong, just like it did with [Shadow]. Thinking about that, Emily fell deep in thought again.

(Although we investigated and everything points to a technical issue with the generators, why do I still feel like that’s not exactly what happened?)

At that moment, a memory flashed through Emily's mind: the event that occurred before the lights went out. In the hallway, she recalled encountering a man but decided to let him pass, thinking she was overthinking things. However, upon reflection, she realized the situation was strange. Emily, who had an excellent memory, couldn’t remember that person, and more importantly, she hadn’t been informed about hiring new staff.

“Laura”

“Yeah?”

“That person we encountered in the hallway before the lights went out, you remember him, right?”

“Of course”

“Have you seen him before or known anything about him before that encounter?”

“... Now that you mention it, I didn’t pay attention at the time because we were in a hurry, but I never really saw him. Besides, when I recently visited the department he said he was assigned to, he wasn’t there... Now that I think about it, that’s really strange, isn’t it?”

Laura's words confirmed Emily’s suspicions. Although she didn’t want to face that possibility, there was no denying the truth anymore.

(Damn! It seems we were tricked. The technical failure in the generators wasn’t an accident; we were intentionally sabotaged)

However, even aware of the truth, it was too late for Emily to act. As Laura had mentioned, the man had simply disappeared, as if he had never existed. Yet, one question lingered in Emily’s mind: who had done this and why? She thought of "them" because she was sure it wasn’t just one person responsible. Probably, a group with dark intentions had emerged somewhere and at some time.